Trump order rescinds Defense Production Act application to solar manufacturing

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President Donald Trump issued an executive order undoing a series of actions taken by the Biden Administration. The order included removing solar modules, solar module components, insulation, electrolyzes, fuel cells and electric heat pumps from Section 303 of the Defense Production Act (DPA). 

In 2022, President Biden invoked the DPA to support the production and deployment of the above-mentioned technologies. Invoking the law included a $500 million appropriation, filed under the Inflation Reduction Act, to fund U.S. clean energy manufacturing, including solar panels and heat pumps. 

President Trump’s executive order said the rescission of solar and other energy efficiency and electrification technologies from DPA status, among other actions, “are necessary to advance the policy of the United States to restore common sense to the federal government and unleash the potential of American citizens.” 

The DPA enabled the Department of Energy (DOE) and other federal agencies to invest in clean energy manufacturing facilities and projects. 

“With the new DPA authority, DOE can help strengthen domestic solar, heat pump and grid manufacturing industries while fortifying America’s economic security and creating good-paying jobs, and lowering utility costs along the way,” said Biden-era U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm when the DPA was invoked. 

The DPA-spurred funding included requirements for labor standards, local labor hiring, community benefits agreements and encouragement of investment in low-income communities.

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